Created: 3/21/2007 11:31:47 PM 
By WBIR-TV Knoxville
KNOXVILLE, TN -- Eric McLean, the man accused of killing his wife's young lover, spoke to the media for the first time since his arrest.
McLean is charged with first-degree murder in the death of 18-year-old Sean Powell. McLean's family alleges his wife, Erin, had a romantic relationship with Powell, whom she met while student teaching.
On Wednesday, Matt Lauer from NBC's The Today Show interviewed McLean in jail.
It was an interview that almost didn't happen.
Knox County District Attorney General Randy Nichols asked a judge to block that interview, but the judge refused.
Lauer asked McLean about his 11-year marriage.
"It was great," McLean said. "We built a family together and we, you know, we had dreams of things we wanted to do, and we kept trying and trying. It was really hard, you know, to make things work and try to spend time together while you have to work so much, and all of that. But, everything was great for most of it."
However, McLean says he suspected his wife was having an affair.
"I pretty much knew," McLean told Lauer. "I think I was just, like, in denial for a long time, you know?"
What McLean doesn't deny is that he was the shooter.
"Every day, like, I think, I feel, I think about Sean's family, and I just feel really horrible," McLean said. "I really feel like, for him and his family, and I just wish that, wish that none of this had happened. It's just a total disaster."
McLean also says he still loves his wife, Erin, who was recently was rushed to a Nashville-area hospital after a suspected suicide attempt.
At last check, she was out of the hospital.
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